2013 Top End Barra Series Round 1.

Hi there,

Not long ago was the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series, and all the action took place at Shady Camp. For the people who don't know Shady Camp, this is like a big fish supermarket, a destination where people goes to break records, or at least try to catch their first Barramundi over the meter mark.
So let's cut to it straight away, I did not catch a meter Barramundi yet, but 8 of them were caught during the first round of the competition. This shows the potential of the place.

For this round I had found a spot on Nomad's boat, thank you Nomad.
We drove early, to be at the Shady Barrage at the same time than the tide, so we could launch, and launch we did. As we were zooming down the river, we heard a strange noise coming from the outboard at the back, as we worryingly turned around to have a look at it, we immediately understood...
The noise was not coming from the outboard, but from a small chopper that was following us at close quarter.

Straight on our tail.

This was in fact one of the choppers from Helifish, a company that photographed most of the competitors during the first day of the round 1. Personally, I have never used their service yet, but if I was to suddenly become rich, that is certainly one of the thing that I would do.

As we arrived at the mouth of Sampan, we were greeted with the view of about 60 boat already trolling the area. Despit the big number of boats fishing the spot during the whole weekend, everybody seemed in a very good mood and well mannered, which is certainly due to the very relaxed and fun spirited attitude that most competitor show in the Top End Barra Series.

And not long after we started to get in the line and had our lures in the water, that Nomad was on, to a nice sized Threadfin Salmon of 85cm (33.464567 inch).

First Threadfin of the weekend.

Just after getting this fish in the esky, Nomad bumped the brag mat in the drink... 

We had just started fishing in the competition, and we lost our fish measuring device... 

Lucky, he had a spare one tucked in the boat, so we were able to continue.

Yes this was going to be the weekend of the Threadfins. Good mates Seano and Sheeby told me that in the first day they had caught eighteen of them! And many of them over the meter mark...

I had never had a big Thready on the lure yet, and could not wait to hook on one, even if this was a Barramundi competition.

No long after that we saw Rosco, who gifted me a new lure for my little collection.

I am not sure if the lure is a KO Lures, one or not, I will have to ask him the next time that we catch up.

Anyway, Thanks for the lure Rosco, it is a nice one.

We saw Doors Off and Collen both catch a meter Barra. But it had seriously started to slow down for us, and I was starting to wonder if ever I was going to catch a fish...

And also if we were going to be able to dodge the storms that were all around us.

Storm over the mouth of Sampan Creek.

I could see people catching fish all around us, but I could not hook on anything.

We did get a few hit, but couldn't stay connected to any of them...

I had not been able to reel in a single good fish in a long time, and was considering that maybe, I had lost all of my fishing luck, the mojo must have drown...

When I finally got a jolt in the line, and I was on!

Just as we arrived at the end of the troll run, and were about to turn, and my Big B52's in the Guns N Roses had been nailed. At the end of it was fighting a lovely Threadfin Salmon.

I didn't know if I should have been disappointed as this was not a Barramundi, or if I should get excited to get my first Thready on a lure. In the end, a fish is a fish, and I was rather happy with that.

It was just shorter than the one previously caught by Nomad. 84cm (33.070866 inch), but was still so far my first and thus biggest one.

My first ever Threadfin Salmon on a lure.

I was very happy with that, and the spirit shoot back right up.

And we started trolling again.

Then we started to cast at some snag near the creek's mouth, and there we saw another competitor boat a Barramundi.

Get the net ready!

And yes in the background is the early beginning of the round raft up.

The Top End Barra Series raft up have become a bit of a tradition, where a few boat, sometimes over a dozen, raft up together and start to party.

This is generally not conducive to very good fishing, but definitely a very good spot for some great laughs. And a good indicator that there is still a lot of participant in this competition who are there more for the good times than for the prizes.

Then it was the evening, the storms had retired for a little while, and the place become illuminated by one of these end of wet season sunset that makes the Top End a magical place. As most boat were heading to the shelter of the creeks for the night.

Boat heading for the creek.

Fishing in the sunset.

We did the same, went in a nice little creek, dropped the anchor, and had dinner.

We then put some fizzers at the end of our line and started to wait for the tide and the boofs...

But the early start and a fulld day fishing got the best of us, and we just fall asleep...

I woke up at around three in the morning, to the sound of a boof not far from the boat.

In no time I was up, and casting all around.

For nothing else that one boof on my fizzer, and it didn't hookup.

As the day was starting to shine, the rain came with it.

But it did not last long, and as we were then well awake, we started to troll again.

And Nomad, asked me to steer the boat, while he would cast a fizzer at all the fish that we could see surface feeding. Well for the people who know me, steering a boat, is not a thing in which I am highly qualified yet, but at the Barramundi trolling speed, I was able to do it. 

Then we saw more and more of the fish feeding on the surface, so with Nomad at the front on the casting desk, I tried to get as close as I could and put in neutral, still twitching my rod with a lure at the back... And Bang I was on! As I was trolling with the spin outfit instead of the bait caster, we heard the ratchet going on, a sound I always like, at any time of the day. 

As I turned around to look in the direction of my fleeing line, I saw a nice pice of chrome jumping out of the water. It had fully jumped and I was able to see its entire body, there was no doubt, this was a Barramundi, and it was of legal size.

I was now trying to stay as calm as I could, but was worried that the fish would cut the line on the prop of the outboard, but Nomad told me to not worry about it to just worry about the fish and to reel it in. Which I did.

This was no monster fish, but this was my best Barramundi on a spin reel. It went 81cm (31.889764 inch).

Barramundi from the mouth of Sampan.

As you can see in the photo, it was early in the day, and I was still wearing a jacket. You know that you have acclimated to the tropics, when you need a jacket in the morning...

Just there, I told myself that this was going to be a day that I would remember.

And I am sure that I will remember this day, for some peculiar reason...

I then decided to change my fishing rod, and to get back to a bait caster, but to continue to use the same lure that had caught me my Barra, a Big B52's in the Strawberry and Cream colour. This lure was going to hook on something even bigger a bit latter on...

Then it was Nomad turn to hook and boat a fish. It was a nice Blue Salmon.

Nomad's Blue Salmon.

It was still early in the day, when my rod buckled down and I was on again!

Very quickly I knew that this was another Threadfin Salmon, but I also knew that it was bigger than the one I got the previous day.

I was going to upgrade my personal best Thready on a lure, if i could boat this one.

And boated the fish we did.

As the fish was still in the net, Nomad was telling me to be careful, that these fish sometime go mad in the boat, and that we didn't want any problem with the hooks. 

Well you guessed it, not long after he finished to say so, someone got hooked...

It wasn't me, it was him, as he was trying to get the hook out of the fish mouth. He was using a plier, but the fish had suddenly jumped all over the place, and by the scream and expletive coming from Nomad, I knew something was wrong.

One of the treble point was now firmly stuck in one of his finger, way pass the barb.

We had to get the other treble out of the fish, and start to think of what we could do.

Nomad tried to pull it out wit a piece of leader, but it didn't work.

Frenchy from the Tackle Box rafted up to us, and got his first aid kit out. And a little plier that he had for over twenty years, which was absolutely perfect to cut the hook. 

Then Seano and Sheeby rafted up on the other side of the boat and came to give us a hand. Seano tried to pull the hook out with Nomad saying: If you hurt me, I will punch you and send you swimming!

So Seano did what any one would have do in this situation, he took the biggest filleting knife he could find, and said with a big smile, no worries, I will just do a little cut on the top of your finger. 

After sharpening it with a sharpening stone, he put the blade on Nomad's finger and said, ok, at three I will make a little incision, and we will be able to pull that out. He started counting aloud, but It seemed to me, that he used the knife at two and not at three. 

Any way, I don't know if that because he had the knife, but Nomad did not punch him, and Seano was able to pull the remain of the hook out trhought the little cut. 

Frenchy passed on an antiseptic liquid from his first aid kit, and some band aid.

We were ready to roll. 

Ho and what did the fish that was the cause of all of this, looked like?

Here is it:

Nice and fat Threadfin.

So yes, at 86 cm (33.858268 inch) at the fork this was a bigger Salmon that my previous one, but I still think that the biggest thing that my new lure had caught was Nomad...

And we did joke about it later on.

Nomad who till then had caught all of his fish on a Gold Bomber, decided to change lure, and put a small Taipan from Reidy's, grey with red strips. And that was going to prove a if not an unusual lure for Shady Camp, a very successful one.

On the first troll run he hooked on what we though might be a monster, but it was just a nice Catfish. A nice one, but not a giant one.

A nice Catfish.

Being hooked behind the head, it was impossible to turn the fish, and it did give a very good account of himself. We really believed for a moment that Nomad had hooked on a Jewfish. 

So the fish went back in the water, and the lure too.

It didn't take long, and this time it was a monster that took a liking to this little lure. 

It hit and run, at great speed. Just one very fast and long run. I was trying to reel in my own lure as quick as I could and was screaming: Thumbs it he's going to spool you!

And before I even got my lure back to the boat it was all over...

This big fish who took the small lure, had made a long run which ended in a little Ping! and there was no line left on Nomad's reel, he had effectively been spool in no time. 

This one must have been a big Jewfish, or a monster Barramundi. We will never know, but that was fast and strong, and very impressive.

So we went on a long troll so Nomad could get another eeel and rod ready, all the will I was swimming  one of my lures at the back. And fishermen being fishermen, we could not help discussing what the fish that took all of Nomad's line could have been. It was the first time that I saw a reel being spooled under my eyes, and I had some trouble to come to term with the speed at with it happened.

As we were talking about that, Nomad asked me why I hadn't caught another fish yet?

And as I was trying to make some excuse like I was just trying to be nice to him, and not catch a fish just after he lost one... Wham Bam! I was on again.

In very shallow water, and it was heavy as, and I had some problems to reel it in.

No jump, it wasn't a Barramundi, it didn't fight like a Salmon, and wasn't as fast as a Jewfish, what could it be? A big Grouper maybe? 

Well no, it wasn't any of these, it was a small stingray, which after the hook in the finger incident, made me think what will happen now?

So when it was at the boat, Nomad netted it:

Stingray in the net.

As we looked at it wondering what to do now, we realised that her barb was stuck in the net:

Stingray barb in the net.

This made things much easier for us, and I got my lure back.

This was going to be my last fish for the weekend, and all of my fishes had been caught on Big B52's, so I think that this will be my go to lure the next time that I will go to Shady Camp.

After that we trolled a bit more, but started to get worried about the tide, and if there would be enough water to get out at the barrage. So we decided to head back. And it was a wise move, as we arrived in very shallow water, and nearly got stuck on the rock, before being stuck on the mud at the ramp.

Thankfully there were other boats and some friends there, and with every bodies helping every bodies, we were able to get the boat on the trailer. Even if in the process both Nomad and I lost our shoes to the mud of the ramp.

We were then back on the road, destination home, when Nomad said: Have you seen the buffalo?

To which I replied that no, I hadn't, so he mad a u-turn, so I could get a photo of them.

We couldn't find them back and just as I was starting to tease him about him having some water buffalo vision, we saw them:

Water buffalo on the track.

And just then a car with some tourist from down south stopped to have a look at them too...

And they got out of their car and started to walk towards the buffalos. We shouted at them not to do that that they could be very dangerous animals, but they didn't really seemed to trust us, and continued to walk in the buffalo's direction, camera in hand.

Luckily for them, the buffalo ran away.

And then it was the road, with more talks about fishing and the ones that got away, and finally home.

It really was a great weekend, and I was very happy to have been invited on a boat once again, and to have been part of the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series.

Thank you Nomad.

Score wise, I ended up in place 22, out of about 80 competitors. I will need to lift up my game in the next rounds if I want to do any good.

Yes, poor old Nomad, in this round, lost a brag mat, got a hook in one of his fingers, got spool by a great fish, and lost his shoes in the mud... A hard weekend by all standards. 

But hey, It could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 2.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the second round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and the location was Shady Camp.
Everybody in the comp had some big expectations, as the area is known for it's very large Barramundi.
And yes I did get a Shady metery, but I will tell you  more about it in due course...

Once again for this event I teamed up with Arrabmundi, that was as usual a productive association and full of good laughs. We decided to leave Darwin on Friday night, as to be on the water very early on Saturday, to make the most of the two days of fishing allowed for the competition. Arrabmundi had arranged for us to be in an accommodation literally 300 meters from the boat ramp.
Which was great because the area is renowned for the huge amount of mosquitos and other bugs that make camping a proverbial pain.
To give you an idea, in the evening once we were in the safety of our accommodation the sound of the bugs bumping on the windows to try to get in and feast on our blood, sounded like if it was raining outside...

Any way, we were on the ramp, ready to launch at around 5:45 am on Saturday, and started to navigate the river with the help of a big spotter light, in which we could see the gleaming eyes of the river's resident crocodiles.

We arrived to our first fishing destination just before day break, the water temperature was around 32 C (89.6 Fahrenheit). This was the mouth of Sampan Creek and already a few boats were trolling the waters. So we started too.
And very quickly Arrabmundi was on:

Hooked at daybreak.

We got excited, but it was just a Caty, not a huge but still a nice Catfish:

First fish of the day.

A bit disappointed we started trolling again, trying to see the positive in it, and it was that the lure worked...

Not long after I was on, and yes it was on a Barramundi, the first one of the weekend:

First Barramundi of the weekend.

At 73 cm (28.740157 inches) it was in my books, not a bad fish to start the weekend with.

In fact it was going to be one of my five top fishes for the round 2. This fish I kept for our dinner in the evening.

I was happy to get the monkey off my back, now it was Arrabmundi turn to get on the board, and he did it in no time:

Arrabmundi first Barramundi of round 2.

This was a better fish than mine, it measured 81cm (31.889764 inches).

It was a nice and healthy fish, we let it go back in the water.

Most boats around us were getting some fishes, but despite having some very good hits on our lines, we could not boat another fish for the morning...

So at around 12:00 pm, we went just inside the mouth of Sampan Creek and had a little chat with Dingo and Muntzy, they were having lunch. 

We left them and started trolling just there and then, when I got a good whack on the line and was on again.

But I lost the fish not very far from the boat. The boat behind us was on too and netted their fish, so we decided to give the area a little work out and started trolling it in earnest.

This was a very wise move and we both got our five fish required to get a good score in the comp in the first afternoon. These weren't big fish, but still it was good, and step by step we started to upgrade our bags of fish.

The fishing was hot and we got our first double hook up of the weekend:

Double hook up result.

This was the first time that I was on a boat and that we had a Barramundi double hook.

And not long after that we got a Barra that I don't know how, but it  had managed to get hooked on both our lures:

Whose fish is that?

Even Dingo and Muntzy started to get on the fish.

We had been fishing the place for a few hours, getting fishes in the 70's cm when a boat came out of nowhere, cruised through and got a nice fish in the 90's on their first troll...

Just after that another boat arrived did their first troll and got a metery, the type of fish that we were all after. The prised Barramundi of one meter or more...

We did try a bit more but could not get such nice fish.

So Arrabmundi said to put some very shallow lures and that we would troll just on the edge of the mangrove to see if any fish were hiding in there.

This resulted in our second double hook up of the weekend.

And my fish had been caught on one of the Gone Fishin' lure:

Fish on the Gone Fishn' lure.

Not long after that we decided to call it a day, and to go back to the ramp and to the accommodation before night time.

And guess what we had for dinner in the evening? 

Smoked Barramundi.

I had taken with us my small smoker, so we could have some fresh, smoked Barramundi for dinner. We had also taken some pasta with us, just in case we didn't catch any fish...

But to me, this was much better than pasta!

After that we went to bed early as we had planed to get up very early for the second day of fishing. We wanted to be on the water one hour earlier than the previous day, and this is what we did.

When we arrived at the ramp on Sunday morning not a single other boat was in the line, so we launched in a record time.

The brief for the day was to start like on the day before by trolling the mouth of Sampan, and then to head for the inside of the Creek.

So we started trolling, and I was wondering if the fishes could  see my lure in the dark...

I was suddenly sure that they could, because my rod started pulling in my hands and line was peeling off my reel.

Yes we thought, the Barra are on!

Well, after a bit of a fight I got a small catfish near the boat, as a repetition of the Saturday, we were starting the day with a Caty...

The positive in that?

I then knew that the fish would be able to see my lure...

And I did hook a Barramundi not long after that.

And then another one :

Morning Barramundi.

At 78cm (30.708661 inches), this was going to be my second best Barramundi of the weekend.

Arrabmundi was now due for a fish, and he did deliver, we had just started to troll, my lure was not yet being pulled by the boat that he was already on to a fish that on the first jump seemed to be a nice one:

Best Barramundi of the weekend.

This Barramundi was 83cm (32.677165 inches), and was going to be the best fish to come aboard our boat for the weekend.

When it was close to the boat I started to get ready and to lower the net in the water, when the Barra jumped clear of the water and fell back with a big thump straight on my hand.

In retrospect, I was very lucky that none of the three trebles on the lure got stuck in my hand, as this could have been pretty nasty.

I followed with a massive catfish, which bent the hooks of my lure.

Then a smaller but still pleasant 74cm Barramundi. (29.133858 inches).

Salt water Barramundi.

The surprising thing with this Barra, was that he destroyed a split ring on my lure, and pulled it away.

This being a good lure, I took the split ring and the hook from another lure and putted them on it...

Not long after while we were trolling I said: I am snagged! Because my lure had totally stopped in its track, and the line was not peeling from the reel. It was more like a big dead weight at the end of my line...

Then, Bang! Bang! Two big sharp and very close to each other jerk on the line, and it went limp. The braid had be broken before I could even realise that I had in fact hooked a very big fish. Still I have no clues of what it was, but it certainly was my biggest fish of the weekend.

Not long after that we went back in the inside of the Creek to see if we could repeat the session that we had on the prior day.

And what a session we got!

It started slow but study, to become fast and furious.

At one stage I even managed to hook a fish at the start of the short troll, get it to the boat, unhook it while the boat was still on the troll and throw the lure back in the water, to catch another Barramundi before the end of the troll run.

This was my best Barramundi fishing session ever. 

We managed to boat over twenty Barramundi in the course of the weekend. 

I then picked up a 71cm Barramundi. (27.952756 inches).

Happy fisherman.

And then I got a massive hit, aggressive and violent, which took me by surprise, as it made some very fast runs and fought like no Barra had this weekend.

I started to get all nervous thinking that this was it, I had a big Shady Camp's lady on the line. I kept saying: This one has some weight to it!

And when finally netted, in was a 69cm Barramundi... (27.165354 inches).

This one fought well above its weight and really tricked me into thinking that it was a huge one...

We were starting to say that we would have to go soon, that we still had a long road to get home, when I finally got my best fish of the weekend:

My best fish of the weekend.

At 83cm (32.677165 inches) this fish made me really happy.

And of course, after that we had to do a few more trolling runs.

What was the lure that caught me all these fish inside the creek mouth?

It was a Classic F18 in the Elton on Chrome colour.

I had never really fished with these lures, but Rossco had told me that this was one of his favourite lure, so I wanted to try one...

I liked it, thanks Rossco!

Outside of the Sampan Creek mouth, the only lures that worked for us were the Big B52's and the Big Arse B52's from Reidy's.

So my five best fish for the weekend were: 71- 73 - 74 - 78 - 83.

How did I ended up with these?

I came in fifth place, which was a very good surprise for me, as I was just hopping to be in the top 20.

And on the overall score board, I am now in 7th position, with four more rounds to go.

I want to thanks once again, Arrabmundi for taking me aboard his boat and allowing me to fish in some fantastic places. And to Dingo, Bandit and Rossco for organising such a friendly and social fishing competition.

Ho, and what about my Metery?

I did get a Shady Metery, but it was a Caty...

So no Barramundi over the magic meter mark for me yet.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Barramundi fishing at Shady Camp

Hi there,

Just two weeks since I was back, and I got a call from from Double Haul asking if I wanted to go Barramundi fishing at shady camp?
What a question!

Of course I wanted to, I had never been there, but kept reading about the massive Barramundi that get caught there on the FFF forum and in magazines.
So it was said that we would go there and have a go at the big Mommas that roam the sandpit...
Did we get the big Mommas?
Well if we did I would have already told you about it, but nonetheless, it was truly a great weekend, thank for the invitation Double Haul.

So as I was at the 2010 FFF Barra Challenge drinks at the Ski Club, I was trying to be part of it, but my brain was already somewhere else...
Trying to imagine what it was like, and what it would take to pull one of these big ladies out of the water.
And yes it is true too, I wanted to see my little one and put her to bed, before leaving for the weekend. So I did miss a big part of what seemed a great event, but if I hadn't, I would certainly have been very sorry the following morning when my skipper came to pick me up.

It was good to be in the car on our way, and to listen to Tales of the Tiny one more time.
To talk with Double Haul of what's happened around the traps during my nearly three months of non fishing, and to just have a chat in general, just thinking of what was to come: Fishing at Shady.

We stopped at the last tavern on the road and as it was raining, I bought a yellow poncho...
Well it was a very good buy, as it warned the rain off, and we didn't get any at shady, except at night so no worries on this side.
But the graded road was wet and when we arrived, the white car had changed of colour.

And this is a four wheels drive door...

We quickly launched, and as I was waiting for Double Haul return from the parking lot, holding the boat with my feet in the water, I could not help but look on my right, on my left, behind me, and behind the boat... But no croc in sight, all was good.
Then zoomed through the river and arrived at the mouth of Sampan...
A few boat were there, but no where in the number i imagined, from all I was told, and that was good too.

I was then instructed to put my biggest green lure on my line and we started the first troll run of the day...
And before I could even start to really take the place into consideration...
Double Haul rod bent violently, and he just got up and said, get the net if you want it, it is just a small one...
Didn't even get rid of his cigarette, just got the fish to the boat, nice and easy, like if it was just some bait for his billfish mania...
Netted the fish, he didn't want it, said something like already haviing some Goldies in the freezer, and offered me to keep it.
I said yes of course! A nice piece of fresh chrome directly out of the water, thank you very much! 
So it was bled quickly measured and was in the 80s...
Yeah right, just a little one...
 
If I had catch it myself, that would be my second best one...
Now I really wanted to see what the big ones looked like...

By now the water was glass, it was very impressive, at least to me.

Calm seas is what I like...

And the Threadies moved in...
100s of them, just rolling on the surface every where around the boat.
And they kept hitting our lures, but doing just that hitting them without getting hooked.
 
We tried every thing from subsurface lures to soft plastics, and different colours, but to no avail...
And still we could see them all around us, and we could feel them on our lines...
Every few minutes I would jump thinking that I had a fish...
Which brought out quite a few laugh from Double Haul...
To which I answered: I am in control, calm and zen...
And just as I would finish to say it, I would jump again...
 
Honestly it was frustrating, but good fun at the same time.

Then with nothing else being caught we went to a little river on the right of the mouth where we did not catch anything, but heard a big splash in the water not very far from us... A croc feeding, he must have caught more fish than us...
So with no fish for us there, we returned to see the Threadies and hopefully Barras from the mouth of Sampan.

As we arrived, there was nearly no boat left trolling the place, and we didn't see as many Threadies either.
But we continued to get some hit that did not transform themselves in hook-ups.
So I put a little B52's that Matt Flynn had given me a few months ago, and guess what?
I was on!
To a nice little blue Salmon!
So I decided to keep it for the mother in law, as I was not sure to get anything else...

Then we started to slowly make our way back to the barrage.
First we stopped on the flat for a bit of casting.
Where I hooked a very feisty little thing, that made two jump, shaking his head like mad, and spitted the lure on the second one...
Didn't even had the time to ID it as it was just to fast...
Not big, but full of energy.
Still was fun, and again on the same lure that the one I caught the Blue Salmon.
I start to like this lure!

Then to a few different spot trying on soft plastic, Double Haul even got a little barra, and a croc made a dash for it! But it was in the boat just in time to escape the jaws of death and was released alive. 

The shifty croc that went for the hooked Barramundi.

Then, the visit of the Great Wall of China (A man made barrage mad e of big rocks), and view of the Sampan that gave it's name to the river. That was a great story and is part of the Territory history, who said that there can't be any cultural interlude in fishing? 
Ok, we did not stop to sip some Chardonnay... 

The boat that gave it's name to the creek.

The back at the barrage, where Double Haul asked me with a smile if I wanted to do a bit of land based fishing from the barrage...
Well, those who know me, might have guessed my answer to this one...
No way! Too many crocs around for my feet to stand there in the water... 

So back to camp where we installed the tents before dark and made a quick dinner of some good pork chops.
The mosquitos were not as bad as I had been told by many people that they would be.
And as soon as darkness set in... I had to excuse myself for being so bad company, but was really exhausted and was in serious need to get some sleep.
Yes for the soon to be parents... This is one of the side effect of this wonderful things that kids are...

Yet before I went to bed, Double Haul told me again that fishing at night from the barrage is a very good way to land your first metery...
Honestly, as much as I would love to get one... Not from there, thank you very much! 

The following morning we woke up nice and early, but not too much, it was just right.
Put the boat in the water after a quick breakfast, during which I equipped a green soft plastic from Reidy's with a long split ring and a nice brand new treble under the belly... Yes I wanted a second round with the Threadies if they were to continu teasing us... And off we went, in quest of a vengeance...

As we arrive, we found the water not as calm as the previous day, and still a few boat trolling the place.
And we did see some people starting to land some fishes.
Among them a boat full of young lads yahooing when catching what seemed a rather nice Powertail...

And speaking of Powertail...
Once again Double Haul rod, bent in half, and this time the line started to peel at a rather fast peace... 
So just as I finished to quickly retrieve my lure out of the water to take the wheel and steer the boat toward the fish...
Hu ho when was the last time I did something like that? I am sure I did it before but just can't remember when...
How do you do that?
Why when I try to steer the boat to the right is it going on the left? 
But step by step it was in the right direction, mostly.
And as line was gained, I was still saying: That must be a big Barra!  
The reply was short and to the point: It is not a Barra! It's a stinking Caty! 
I was then told that it hit like a train but did not made any jump and stayed at the bottom so that is was crtainly a Cat fish...
At first it had nearly spooled the Calcutta reel...
And yes it was a Caty, and it was not even lifted out of the water to be released.
Yet this fish with his powerful hit and run and managed to destroy the swimming action of a new big Bomber...
Bad luck that is, after that the lure would alway go on the right, and end up on my side of the boat.

So change of lure for Double haul and then I am on!!!
And the question I was asked was: Did you got a snag?
But the snag jumped and it was, in my books a nice Barra.
It came to the boat after a few jump and I am not kidding but literally made his last jump straight in the net, where it landed ready to be lifted out of the water. Once on the deck it was clear that he was still pretty green and tried to trash around as I was trying to grab the lure that was hanging from under it's jaws. Double Haul rapidly told me: Don't put your hand in there, and in retrospect, that was very good advice, as the animal was still jumping around in the net.
When asked if I wanted to keep it, I just asked if it was legal...  
Yes it was it was 78cm... (Around here they get legal at 55cm).
So in the esky it went.

And if I don't smile on the photo, this is just because of the sun hitting straight in my eyes.

But trust me I was very happy!

78 cm of joy.

We tried a bit longer for the big Mommas, but they didn't want to play with us.
So I put the "Super charged" soft plastic at the end of my line, and I got...
Another blue Salmon...

Then I put back a hard body, still trying for the big one, and just as I put my rod in the rod holder to grab a drink in the esky, I heard Double Haul saying something about jelly and my rod, so I glanced at my rod and it was at a nice angle with the water, bent and all!
So I jumped grabbed it and start to reel, to a funny strange feeling, not like a Barra, that's for sure... 
I should have given more attention at what I was told... I was hooked to a Jelly fish...
The positive in that?
Well this had never happened to me before, so now I can talk about it... 

A bit more trolling, then it was time to slowly make our way back towards the harsh reality of life...

On the way back home.

The lure that got me a Barra, a Big B52's from Reidy's.

And at the boat ramp we saw a broken fishing rod in one of the bin...

Someone must have had a bad day.

So it was a very good weekend where I discovered some new part of the Northern Territory of Australia, even if we did not get any of these very big Barramundi that we came for.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.